BOSTON - (November 8, 2000) - On Saturday, November 25 at Franklin Park, the Boston Athletic Association and adidas will present the USA Fall Cross Country Championships. USA Track & Field - New England, in cooperation with the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, will direct the meet.

The City of Boston last hosted the event in 1995, and Franklin Park also was the site of the 1991 meet. In addition to open (also known as "senior") championships, the event will be the national championship for masters (40-years old and older) competitors. Senior women will run 6K at 10:30 A.M., senior men will run 10K at 11:15 A.M., and the masters race is also 10K (at 12:30 P.M.) for both men and women.

The USA Cross Country Championships have been simplified, and in only its third year featuring a new format, the Fall Championships have begun to exhibit a distinct identity characterized by regional club participation.

For more than a century, U.S. athletes pointed towards a single cross country championship event held in the fall. For many of those years, that one national championship also determined who comprised the USA team at the World Cross Country Championships. When USATF created the USA Winter Cross Country Championships with the dual expectation of fielding more competitive teams at the world meet and using that event to select the USA team, the Fall Championship was left with fewer national class competitors. Since the change in format went into effect, several national-caliber club members have used the fall championship to begin their seasons, to stay in touch with cross country or to tune-up for the winter meet. On the other hand, the majority of club members from Association teams running the fall meet are culminating their seasons.

Some athletes and clubs have decided to continue participation in both the fall and the winter events, but the vast majority have made a choice. In general, the Fall Championships have attracted regional running clubs (also known as "Association" teams) vying for the title of the country's top squad, while the Winter Championships feature national teams (the so-called "shoe company teams") and focus on individual performance.

While managers and coaches of Association clubs began breaking out their runners and scoring their runners against each other nearly a decade ago, these efforts didn't receive attention equivalent to outright champion clubs. Beginning in the 1980s when national teams came into existence, their strength and depth easily prevailed (with a few exceptions) over regional clubs. Now, since the Association clubs have their own championships, victories are instant, clear and meaningful.

With the year 2000 marking only the third year for the Fall Championship serving primarily to crown the winning club as Association champion, staging this year's event at a renowned venue - historic Franklin Park and site of the 1992 World Championships - will likely strengthen the meet's reputation as one of the few opportunities within the sport of running where regional running clubs come together to face-off against each other. The 1998 Fall Championships were held in Lake Buena Vista, Florida and last year they were staged in Long Beach, California.

The New England area is strong both in terms of clubs and cross country participation, and this year's meet will help define the event in future years. An anticipated 800 harriers, representing more than 30 clubs, are expected to attend.

With the event held in a familiar setting, virtually every top New England club figures to field competitive men's and women's teams this year, including the Boston Athletic Association, Boston Running Club, Central Mass Striders, Greater Boston Track Club, Reebok Boston, Greater Lowell Road Runners, Merrimack Valley Striders, Greater Springfield Harriers, Whirlaway Racing Team, Northshore Striders, and Liberty Athletic Club.

A full slate of cross country races at Franklin Park each fall has enabled cross country to remain a mainstay on the racing schedule for clubs which are serious about the season. The Boston Parks and Recreation Department and USA Track & Field - New England team-up each fall to offer an early season series, while the Mayor's Cup and New England Championships have provided stiffer competition.

In its fourth year sponsoring the Mayor's Cup Cross Country and Youth Races, the partnership between the B.A.A., adidas, Boston Parks and Recreation Department and USA Track & Field-New England has helped make the event one of the City's most attractive athletic competitions. Regarded as one of the East Coast's premier cross country events for post-collegians, the Mayor's Cup in late October this year served as the preview meet to the Fall Championships. On October 22, Reebok Boston won the men's competition with 97 points while the B.A.A. was runner-up with 106 points. On the women's side, B.A.A. ran away with the title (30 points) and Greater Lowell was second with 86 points.

In addition, some of the country's other notable Association clubs expected to participate include Club Northwest, Hansons Running Shop, New York Athletic Club, Mountain West Track Club, Fila Track West, Indiana Invaders, Reebok Aggies, Syracuse Chargers, Impala Racing Team, Atlanta Track Club, Wisconsin Runner Track Club and The Farm Team, the California club which won both the men's and women's competition in 1999.

The USA Cross Country Championships in Boston

Year Individual Champion (affiliation, club or home) Winning Team
1917 Jimmy Henigan (Dorchester Athletic Club)...Dorchester Athletic Club
1950 Browning Ross (Penn AC)...NYAC 1965* Sandra Knott (Cleveland
Recreation Dept.)...Will's Spikettes 1984 Pat Porter (Athletics
West)...Athletics West
   Cathy Branta (Wisconsin United)...Team Kangaroos
1991 Todd Williams (adidas; Tennessee)...Nike North
   Lynn Jennings (Nike; New Hampshire)...Nike Running Room
1995 Brad Schlapak (NYAC; Brighton, Mass.)...Nike
   Joan Nesbit (New Balance; North Carolina)...Team New Balance

*Event was a women's only competition and was held at Fresh Pond in Cambridge. All other events were at Franklin Park in Boston.

Special thanks to 
Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Coordinator for providing us this press release.
USATF Road Running Information Center
5522 Camino Cerralvo, Santa Barbara, CA 93111
(805) 696-6232, fax (805) 696-6252
http://www.runningusa.org
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